Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The latest monthly unemployment figures from the CSO for December 2023 record an unemployment rate of 4.9%; in this regard, below 5% is traditionally considered to be full employment. It is welcome that the latest CSO figures for long-term unemployment record a rate of 1.1 per cent in Q3, 2023 - it should be noted that long-term unemployment has not gone below this level since the records began in 1998. Of the almost 174,000 individuals on the Live Register in December 2023, approximately 64,000 (36 percent) were unemployed for one year or more.

My Department, through its Intreo Employment Service and together with its contracted Intreo Partners, work to help jobseekers prepare for and secure employment, including the long-term unemployed. This is achieved through one-on-one case officer supports, developing and funding employment and training programmes, providing recruitment services such as JobsIeland.ie, offering recruitment subsidies targeted at people at most disadvantage and by working closely with our colleagues in the further education and training sector to secure relevant upskilling and reskilling opportunities that align with labour market needs.

Pathways to Work (2021-2025) is the government's employment services and activation framework. The strategy commits to supporting the long term unemployed and those most distant from the labour market as they find their footing in the labour market. The strategy provides a coherent response across five strands of action with 83 specific commitments. Key measures that are being delivered under the strategy to support the long term unemployed include:

- Working with jobseekers through increasing case officer capacity. In this regard we have appointed an additional 100 job coaches in the Department since the launch of Pathways to Work, and have engaged in a process to procure external case officer capacity, supplementing the capacity of Intreo.

- Updating the statistical profiling model used by Intreo Employment Services to identify and prioritise employment supports for those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed.

- Implementing an intensive model of engagement with young people profiled as being at risk of long-term unemployment. The frequency of engagement with a case officer has increased from once a month to once a fortnight, to provide enhanced support to this priority cohort.

- Working with employers, both directly one-on-one and through hosting job fairs in Ireland and with the European Public Employment Services to connect jobseekers with employers in sectors experiencing shortages, such as the health and construction sectors.

- Providing direct work experience and on the job training to jobseekers who participate in the Work Placement Experience Programme.

To ensure that the policy objectives of Pathways remain relevant in the current labour market context, the Labour Market Advisory Council undertook a formal mid-term review of the strategy. The mid-term review, which was informed a public consultation process and engagement with key stakeholders, is now complete and I am carefully considering the Council’s recommendations. Subject to Government approval, I expect to publish the mid-term review and an updated strategy in the coming months.